Isabel Epstein’s Fashion Portraiture is a Rallying Cry for Change

In a series of images featuring model Shanya McLeary, Isabel Epstein visually illustrates the way plastic “chokes” our oceans and wildlife. All images shot with the Nikon D850, and © Isabel Epstein.

Isabel Epstein believes that beautiful photographs have the capacity to foment a transformation in people’s lives. “Viewers can be captivated by beauty, and then come to a realization about an issue through that captivation,” she says. A well-crafted fashion editorial or portrait, she contends, can bring awareness from a gentler angle than documentary photography. “The beauty makes the viewer comfortable,” she asserts. “It isn’t just a scare tactic.”

In a recent series of fashion portraits Epstein took with model Shanya McCleary, she attempts to raise awareness about the issue of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans. Between 4.8 and 12.7 million tons of plastic enter the ocean each year, according to figures published in the journal Science in 2015. This plastic kills marine life and builds up along coastlines.

“I tried to bring a polished fashion and beauty aesthetic to underscore an environmental issue because I feel that activism has a place within art and fashion,” Epstein says.

The series features McCleary wearing a variety of different types of garments and makeup that symbolize aspects of plastic pollution. Makeup for the shoot, which was personally funded by Epstein, was provided by Stephanie Dell’Aira. In one image, McCleary dons a garment by the designer Ter et Bantine with the same texture as bubble wrap, a common pollutant. In another image, she wears prosthetic silicone fish scales on her face.

All of the portraits in the series were taken in a studio with a Nikon D850 camera, as well as Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 85mm f/1.8G and AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G lenses. The milky, underwater quality of the light was created with four Profoto D1 strobes and gels from Rosco labs. “I wanted to create textures and layers of color to illustrate a submarine environment,” Epstein says.

She admits that she was initially inspired to try a Nikon camera because of the Paul Simon song “Kodachrome,” in which he sings, “I got a Nikon camera/I love to take a photograph.”

“I was going to teach a music theory class online, and I had to record a video for it,” Epstein says. “I went to Best Buy and I figured if Nikon was good enough for Paul Simon, it was good enough for me.”

She hasn’t used any other type of camera or lens since. “I made the right choice,” she says, recalling when she used the first camera she bought: a Nikon D3300. “I shot a picture of my steering wheel at an aperture of f/3.5, and the way it isolated the steering wheel from the background… I thought that was the coolest thing ever,” she explains. “It inspired me to keep shooting.”

Entirely self-taught as a photographer, Epstein, who has shot for clients including American Express, JetBlue and Stern magazine, kept upgrading her gear, always choosing Nikon. “The image quality is absolutely astounding,” she says.

In particular, she notes that her Nikon cameras, and especially the D850, have an almost psychic ability to predict the white balance she needs. “The camera can read exactly how I want the image to come out,” she notes. “I also find that the autofocus is really sharp and speedy, and it makes it easy to shoot what I want.”

In Epstein’s case, she aspires to create carefully crafted images in the studio that convey a broader message about what her audience should be paying attention to. “If you can see my images and think, ‘Wow, plastic in the ocean really affects everyone,’ then maybe you can come to terms with consumption that impacts the environment.”

Even if she changes just a few people’s behavior, she avows, she’ll be making an impact.

Want to push your creativity to the next level? Watch Isabel Epstein, Mike Mezeul II and Nikon Ambassador Kristi Odom talk about how they launched their careers by adapting to trends in technology at the PDNedu x Nikon panel at PHOTOPLUS 2019 “Using New Technology to Inspire and Push Your Creativity.” The event took place on October 24, but a recording of the conversation is available if you follow the link.

Below is a selection of images from Epstein’s series on plastic in the ocean, which was shot with a Nikon D850. All images © Isabel Epstein.

Epstein styled McLeary in clothing that was reminiscent of the ocean or the plastic that is increasingly polluting it.

In this shot, McLeary wears prosthetics made from a silicon mold, and meant to imitate fish scales.

Blue gel transformed the lighting to make it look oceanic.

Epstein handled all of the creative direction, lighting and styling for the shoot.

Stephanie Dell’Aira provided hair and make-up under Epstein’s direction.

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